ONE KEY ELEMENT OF INTERNAL WELL-BEING AND HAPPINESS

When I speak of confidence, I am referring to the self-confidence needed to believe in one’s own skills, goals, and ability to succeed. When you believe in yourself you are more likely to take action. To stand up and seize the moment and to persevere long after those who doubt themselves.

Confidence leads to success.

Believe in yourself. Believe in your skills.

And most importantly, believe in your ability to succeed.

When it comes to confidence, one thing is certain: truly confident people always have the upper hand over the doubtful and the skittish, because they inspire others and they make things happen.

I think Henry Ford said it best: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right”.

Ford’s notion that your mentality has a powerful effect upon your ability to succeed is manifest in the results of a recent study at the University of Melbourne where confident people went on to earn higher wages and get promoted more quickly than anyone else. Confidence is a critical element of happiness, because in order for you to be happy with who you are, you need to be confident in what you do.

People who brim with confidence derive their sense of pleasure and satisfaction from their own accomplishments, as opposed to what other people think of their accomplishments. They know that no matter what anyone says, you’re never as good or bad as people say you are.

A study conducted at Eastern Ontario Research Institute found that people who exercised twice a week for 10 weeks felt more competent socially, academically, and athletically. They also rated their body image and self-esteem as being higher. Best of all, physical changes in their bodies were not responsible for the uptick in confidence. It was the immediate, endorphin-fuelled positivity from exercise that made all the difference.

When confident people see an opportunity they take it. Instead of worrying about what could go wrong they ask themselves, “What’s stopping me? Why can’t I do that?” And they go for it. Fear doesn’t hold them back because they know that if they never try they will never succeed and failure is just a great way to learn.

Insecure people constantly doubt their relevance and because of this they try to steal the spotlight and criticize others in order to prove their worth. Confident people, on the other hand, aren’t worried about their relevance because they draw their self-worth from within. Instead of insecurely focusing inward, confident people focus outward, which allows them to see all of the wonderful things that other people bring to the table? Praising people for their contributions is a natural result of this.

Confident people know that asking other people for help won’t make them seem weak or unintelligent. They know their strengths and weaknesses and they look to others to fill the gaps. They also know that learning from someone with more expertise is a great way to improve.

How do you build confidence in yourself?

Take action. Get it done. …

It doesn’t need to be perfect. Just Do It! When you take action, you achieve successes that build more confidence which encourages you to achieve even more successes!

Face your fear. “The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear.” …

Understand in what order things happen. …

…

Realize that failure or being wrong will not kill you. …

Get to know who you are and what you want out of life.

How can you improve your confidence level?

Fight back with one of these confidence-boosting tips.

Play dress-up.

Put on a happy face.

Do a good deed.

Challenge yourself.

Do something you love.

Stop procrastinating.

Celebrate your achievements.

Are you holding yourself back because of low confidence? Do you spend a lot of time “in your head” worrying, regretting, putting yourself down, and wishing things were different? Do you stop yourself from taking advantage of opportunities and reaching the success of which you know you are capable? Without confidence, you will never venture out of your comfort zone.

When you have a healthy level of confidence, you can be your best you. Confidence is a belief in your ability to succeed – a belief that stimulates action. Everything you think and say and do affects your confidence and self-esteem. The good news is that you have control over what you think, say and do.